Maternal and Dangerous
by Swalker2000
Summary: Lucy loved her newfound family with all of her heart, and though she never expected it, she was growing into the motherly role perfectly. She knew that trials and tribulations were sure to follow motherhood, but with a beaming smile, she was ready to take them on. (A series of one-shots following the redhead AVL agent and her relationship with the family.)
1. You're Never Getting Adopted

_**Despicable Me:**_ **Maternal and Dangerous**

 _I apologize for not writing anything recently. Kinda been losing motivation as of late, but right now, I'm feeling back in the mood to delve right back into the fandom._

 _Also, I've been reading back a few of my DM stories and I noticed that I've been neglecting Lucy a little bit. I don't feel like I get her involved in the storyline enough. It isn't intentional since I like her as much as I like the other characters, but I've still been doing it unconsciously._

 _So, as an apology to her, I thought I'd start up a series of one-shots that will revolve entirely around the female AVL agent. Mostly, it'll center on her relationship with the family, but we'll probably get to see her in action at some point._

 _Hope you enjoy. Let's get started..._

* * *

 **1.** _ **You're Never Getting Adopted**_

She was nervous, dejected and alone. The walk to her new bedroom was one she could never quite forget. It was like crossing the border of one life to another. Memories flooded her mind like puddles, each one drowning her conscience in sorrow.

Even though she was only eight-years-old, she was fairly sure that any chance of happiness had officially been buried at this point. She had spent every waking moment of her entire life trying to be accepted, but for whatever reason, nobody seemed to care. She really didn't know why, but she had narrowed it down to either two conclusions.

It was either them, or...her?

She was deathly afraid of the latter option.

Even her own parents never cared. Her mother was always distant and unloving, always seeming to resent her existence, even though the small girl had done nothing to aggravate her. The woman never gave hugs or kisses and wasn't a fan of receiving them.

Her father was a little kinder when sober, but still, caring was certainly an antonym to his description. He liked to drink a lot, and after the indulgence of alcohol, would become aggressive and terrifying, both to her and her mother.

She tried to be the best daughter she could for them, she really did, but they never paid heed to her efforts.

And now, _they were dead._

That conclusive statement was followed by the painful sting of tears in her young eyes. Every chance of her parents having a change of heart and accepting her in their lives had completely vanished.

Now, it was certain that her life would be void of love, care or warmth. And that fact cut at her like a knife.

She very slowly trudged into her new bedroom, right behind the orphanage caretaker, who held a permanent scowl. She was a thin brunette, who sported extremely sharp features and a horribly arched nose. Just a small glance was all it took to guess her personality.

"Here we are." The caretaker muttered coldly. She had stated her name beforehand, but the young girl was too upset and afraid to listen. "This is your new room. Get used to it, as something tells me you're gonna be here for a _long_ while."

Both her tone and eyes were fierce when she spoke. The eight-year-old peered up at her, her eyes gleaming with tears as she whimpered in almost a pleading voice.

"Really?" She questioned.

"Wouldn't be a surprise." She replied bluntly. "Adults only want _good-looking_ kids."

The more she spoke, the more distressed the eight-year-old was becoming. Spending the rest of her young life with this woman sounded awful. The quicker someone came along to adopt her the better.

Suitcase in tow, the young girl dragged herself over to her new bed, as the orphanage owner left without another word. The room was cold and fairly unfurnished, with a bed, a tiny wardrobe and a small clock being the only items inside.

She sat down on the side of the bed, which held a mattress mirroring that of stone, and sulked. She emitted a low growl as she kicked over her light-blue suitcase in frustration, sending it to the wooden floor with a small thump. As new memories and insults clouded her mind, new feelings were accompanying them, all of which were beginning to overcome her.

Anger. Frustration. Betrayal.

This wasn't fair! She still had so much of her life ahead of her, and everything around her was falling apart already. Nobody seemed to give a damn, and slowly but surely, she was losing faith in anyone ever doing so. The trust she held for both herself and others was slowly beginning to fade.

She tried her best to keep her spirits high, something she'd been doing all of her life so far, but this was really getting too much. The depressing bedroom, the lack of love, the horrible transition of life. Why did this have to happen to _her_!?

As a multitude of furious tears blurred her vision, a few young voices began growing in volume from outside her open doorway, indicating that other children were approaching fast. In order to avoid first-day embarrassment, she quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeves and dried her tears, ready to face the onlookers.

Eventually, three children appeared in the doorway, two boys and one girl. They all looked scruffy and malnourished, their venomous expressions locking onto her as she entered their line of sight. Soon, she would learn that their personalities matched their appearances exactly.

"Hey, new kid!" One of the boys spoke. He was clearly using it as a jeer rather than a greeting. "Welcome to hell!"

"We're here to give you your...welcoming gift." The other boy continued, smirking as he added the last two words. Desperate for either attention or friendship, the eight-year-old jumped from her bed and beamed a bright smile, walking over to the trio in anticipation.

"Ooo, a gift!?" She exclaimed cheerfully. "I love gifts!"

"Yes, well, I don't think you'll like this one very much." The boy declared dryly. He quickly turned to the girl beside him and nodded his head at her. "Get her, Sharon!"

Before she had time to react, Sharon, who was around two or three years older than her, leaped and forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. With uncomfortable strength, she launched the innocent eight-year-old into the hallway, slamming her against the wall with a painful slam.

The three cackled mockingly, smirking down at her as she laid helplessly on the floor.

"Get used to that, new kid!" Sharon yelled. "We'll be here every day with another gift!"

"And don't think you can escape us!" One of the boys added. "I mean, _you're never getting adopted!_ "

Those last four words rang through her head like a fire alarm.

 _You're never getting adopted!_

She refused to believe the insult, passing it off as a disgusting lie used to manipulate her feelings. The bullies were just trying to anger her, that's all. Unfortunately, she could never have predicted the truth behind it, not to say she would have tried.

As the small group continued to laugh hysterically, the new orphan quickly got to her feet, clenching her fists in rage as she eyed her targets. She had never been one to take nonsense from anyone, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Without warning, Sharon felt the cartilage in her nose bust, as the girl she previously decked punched her to the floor with a blinding swing of her fist. The riled youngster immediately turned her attention to the two boys, who slowly began backing up.

Before she could lunge forward with a right-hook, the sounds of large feet from behind grabbed her attention, electing her to turn around and investigate. She was unable to escape before the orphanage owner grabbed her and unleashed her wooden cane, which was as long as it was painful.

Each strike was agonizing, that she knew for sure. However, with an odd amount of pace, the final whack sent a vivid shudder through her entire body, throwing her mind back into consciousness...

* * *

Lucy sprang up in her bed, breaths rolling from her lungs like trains as the sweat dampened her forehead. Fear plagued her mind for a few moments, the realization of where she was and what was happening yet to confirm itself.

Eventually, she deduced that she'd experienced a nightmare, the dim bedroom in front of her eyes providing confirmation. However, it wasn't just any nightmare. That nightmare was all completely true, replaying that horrible first day in the orphanage in all of its devilish glory.

The feelings and thoughts she'd experienced seemed violently realistic, as if the whole new life she'd obtained never existed and the old one situated inside that hellhole of a building was still ongoing. Thankfully, that was far from the truth.

At first, she thought the reminder of the owner's cane and the anguish it brought finally broke her out of the dark dream, but just as she was about to lie back down and fall back to sleep, a small voice sounded from her side.

"Mom?"

Lucy spun like lightning to spy the figure beside her bed, who, with the help of the moon's timid light, she recognized instantly. I mean, who else in the house wore a pink beanie and onesie?

"Edith?" Lucy muttered, the tired lingering in her voice. She shuffled over until she was facing the nine-year-old exactly, before probing further. "What are you doing up, honey?"

"I...uh...I had a bad dream." She admitted solemnly, as if that announcement was shameful. Edith usually held up a strong guard, always hiding her feelings and hating to confess her fears. But, as of late, she'd been finding more solace in Lucy than she had done before, making her a little more comfortable to express her emotions in front of her.

Lucy had developed a strong relationship with Edith, mostly because she reminded her of herself at that age. They possessed very similar characteristics, and though her love for her stretched as far as it did with the others, she found herself relating to Edith the most. She found her love for ninjas and fighting to be both awesome and adorable.

"Aww, that sucks," Lucy said sadly, scootching over so the blonde could crawl up beside her. Once she did, she swiftly lowered her head and pulled a horribly saddened expression, as if she were very close to tears. "What about?"

"Uh...I was...I was back at the orphanage again," Edith explained, her voice quivering a little. "And I saw Miss Hattie and...and I gave her this mudpie and...and she said that...that I'll never get adopted and then...and then nobody ever came and I...I was all alone and...and..."

Lucy's heart was aching at the sight of her daughter's sorrow. Usually, when it came to dealing with tears, it was usually Agnes who was the one needing comforting. But right now, Edith looked in a very needy state, the total opposite to her usual demeanor.

As for her dream, it was certainly peculiar that they would experience very similar nightmares on the same night. However, in some ways, that was a positive. Not only did Lucy now know what to do to soothe her dejection, but Edith was also unintentionally helping her with her own lingering fear.

The fact that she had a daughter, three daughters, who she could care for and receive love from, contradicted her old doubts completely. When she was at the orphanage, fearing that nobody would ever care about her or that her whole life would be void of happiness, she never could've predicted how amazing the future would be.

She now had a whole family of people to care about her, and the more she thought about that, the more she cared for them in return. The love she felt towards her husband, her daughters, and even her brother-in-law was registering off the charts, and she had never felt so grateful for the life that she had been handed.

She may have never been adopted while at the orphanage, just like the owner and the bullies predicted, but the fact that she had these amazing people around her who loved her dearly, made all of that pain worth it.

"Hey, hey, shh shhh." Lucy hummed, her voice as soft as silk. She wrapped her warming arms around the middle-child, who rested her head against her mother's shoulder. "None of that was real, it was just a dream. I mean, look," Lucy nodded at her comotosed husband, who was lightly snoring. "You _have_ been adopted. That horrible woman didn't have a clue what she was talking about."

Edith lifted her head and grinned joyfully, sniffling as the tears slowed down, before burying her head into Lucy's shoulder once again. Lucy closed her eyes and held her close, trying her best to absorb the last of her misery.

"I love you, mom." Edith whispered quietly. Nothing was going to stop the smile from permeating Lucy's expression.

"I love you too, sweetie." Lucy replied. "More than you could ever know."

* * *

 _It's short, but hopefully, you found it sweet._

 _Updates for this will probably be quite infrequent. Whenever I get a good Lucy story idea, I'll write it up and put it on here._

 _Thank you for reading. A review would be most appreciated._


	2. Finger Guns

_I was sitting around the house doing nothing today when this little idea popped in my head. Don't know where it came from, but here it is._

 _This is set towards the end of Despicable Me 2, somewhere in the midst of Gru and Lucy's 147 dates. To be a little more specific, sometime before they got engaged or chose to move in together._

 _Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

 _ **2\. Finger Guns**_

"Persistent heavy downpours and borderline hurricane-force winds are expected to last the next few days right across town. Long or unnecessary trips are not recommended, and if it's possible, citizens are advised to stay inside."

The strong pitter-patter sound coming from the roof was well-enough to prove the weatherman wasn't lying. That and the view behind the window, which the girls were staring out of with frustrated expressions.

"It's really coming down, huh..." Agnes said, as she arched her head upwards to catch a glimpse of the dark grey clouds. They seemed to expand far beyond the horizon, as if someone placed an infinitely long blanket across the earth.

" _Uh-huh_. When am I gonna practice my ninja moves now?" Edith moaned, begrudgingly planting her head into her crossed arms, as she sat beside the window with a frown. "This totally _sucks_..."

"Well, not for some of us." Gru spoke with a coy smile, as he entered the living room. The three sisters turned to face their father with perplexed looks, as he practically skipped over to the couch. "De timeeng of dis rain ees absolutely _perfect_!"

"What are you talking about?" Margo questioned, arching her brow a little.

"Well, weeth all dis bad weather, de AVL have called a raincheck on our next mission..." As he spoke, his eyes caught another view of the almost blinding coat of rain from outside the window, practically transforming the front lawn into a marshland. "... _literally_."

"But I thought you enjoyed your AVL job?"

"I do, I do! But since dis rain has trapped us all inside today, dis ees de perfect chance for me to work on de grow ray, _especially_ after yesterday's events." With a stern frown, he turned to face a nearby gang of minions, a few of whom were only a few inches tall. They looked up at him innocently, as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with their little group at all. "Out of all de weapons een de lab to fight weeth, yoo choose _de shreenk ray_."

"Boomba felley eel." One of them replied, shrugging.

"I don't care eef eet was fun, _don't_ do eet again!" Gru yelled after roughly sighing with annoyance. "Why can't yoo guys just steeck weeth de rocket launchers?"

"Wait, you're working in the lab all day?" Edith exclaimed, a touch of sadness in her voice as she slowly lifted her head out of her arms.

"Well, dat's where all de tools are, so eet would appear dat way."

"But...but what are we meant to do? Today's gonna be super boring without you."

"Ah, well, dat's where I've got yoo covered. Seence all of de AVL missions have been called off, Lucy hasn't got much else to do today, so-" At that point, the sound of the front door practically crashing open and shut interrupted him, as if it had been timed for that exact moment. "...here she ees now."

Sure enough, when he walked back out into the hallway, his thoroughly soaked girlfriend stood near the door, hanging up her drenched light blue coat on the coat-rack.

"Jeez..." She spoke through harsh gasps, her nose and hair dripping like a broken tap. "Since when could clouds hold that much water?"

"Y'know, yoo deedn't have to come over eef yoo deedn't want to." Gru said, approaching her with a chuckle. "De weatherman deed advise people to stay inside..."

"Oh, come on, Gru. I've had a fight with a villain halfway up Mount Everest in the middle of one of the fiercest snowstorms to ever grace the planet." She replied, shrugging as she removed her scarf, which was equally as wet as her other articles of clothing. "You really think a little rain's gonna hurt me?"

"Good point." He chuckled, as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and placed a kiss on her dampened cheeks. "Sometimes I forget how cool yoo really are."

"Not as cool as you, Mr. Moon Stealer." Lucy replied, responding with a kiss of her own. The couple shared a short but very sweet hug in the hallway, despite the fact that Lucy was as soaked as a wet sponge. "Anyways, I'm sure I didn't almost drown in raindrops just for a hug and a kiss. Was there something you needed?"

"Oh, well...see, I was planneeng on workeeng down een de lab all day and...seence de rain has trapped dem een de house...I was wondereeng eef yoo could maybe give de gurls some company for a few hours." Lucy's face almost instantly brightened up, but with his nerves suddenly acting up a little, it appeared Gru was having trouble deciphering her reaction correctly. "Ees...ees dat okay?"

"LUCY!"

At that moment, Agnes came sprinting out of the living room and over to the redhead at an almost blistering pace, where she climbed up and tightly wrapped her little arms around her neck. Within a few seconds, her two sisters followed and did the same to her legs, instantly trapping her in place with giggles and smiles.

"Well..." Lucy spoke, chuckling as she lovingly wrapped her arms around Agnes in return. "Looks like I don't have much of a choice..."

* * *

Lucy and the girls sat quietly on the crocodile couch in the living room, watching the TV in silence. For the last hour, the same re-runs of the cartoon that was on every week were being shown in succession, and with each new minute, they were falling more and more into boredom. Even the always-full-of-energy Agnes was practically falling asleep on Lucy's lap, proving truly how tedious this was becoming.

After letting out her fourth yawn in the past five minutes, Margo decided that she'd had enough, and moved over to grab the remote control from the coffee table.

"Right, that's it." She pressed the big red button and shut off the screen, immediately directing everyone's attention towards her. "Can we do something else?"

"Yeah, sure." Lucy shrugged, giving the bespectacled girl a smile. "What do you have in mind?"

"Ooo, ooo, can we play unicorns!?" Agnes chirped, jumping onto her feet in sudden excitement.

"Ugh... _no_ , Agnes!" Edith groaned, slumping back further into the couch. Considering how tiresome the cartoons were becoming, she originally thought it wasn't possible to slip any further back. But, the mention of unicorns certainly proved that theory wrong...

"Why not!?" The six-year-old sulked, crossing her arms unhappily.

"Because we _always_ play unicorns! Either that or stupid board games!"

"You don't _have_ to play with us, Edith." Margo argued, putting her hands on her hips. "Nobody's forcing you."

"Well, I would play with the minions, but half of them are like _that_!" The tomboy pointed down at the armrest beside her, where a shrunken Tim smiled up at them and waved. Lucy chuckled in confusion and waved back, deciding it would be better to not question it. The Gru household was much funnier without questions. "So, what else am I supposed to do!?"

"Look, it's either unicorns or nothing, Edith!" Margo snapped, tired of this same old argument. Obviously, she loved her sister to death, but if there was one trait she held that she could get rid of, she would happily remove her persistent complaining.

Sighing with ire, the nine-year-old crossed her arms and turned away, putting her head down to look at the floor.

"Nobody _ever_ listens to me."

At that point, Lucy picked up more sadness in her voice than anger, and with that realization, she knew she would have to get involved. Growing up in the orphanage, nobody ever really listened to her or did what she wanted to do either, mainly because most of the other kids there were either flat out bullies or simply just disliked her. Seeing Edith upset in this way made her feel fairly defensive for her.

Of course though, it was pretty obvious that Margo and Agnes weren't intentionally upsetting her in the same way that her old bullies used to, but that didn't mean it was right to keep doing so...

"Wait, wait, hold up here a second." Lucy spoke softly, raising her hands as if to halt the situation. Clearly confused, Margo and Agnes looked up at her inquisitively, unsure what she was going to say. "Girls, when was the last time you did what Edith wanted to do?"

Exchanging glances between Lucy and her younger sister, Margo's face dropped a little and she shrugged slightly.

"Well, I...I can't remember."

"So, does that seem very fair?"

"No, b-but...we used to do what she wanted, but everything usually involved _pain_. Like the time we played 'shelf climbers' and Agnes almost broke her arm. Or the time we played 'the fastest lawnmower' and we almost ran over Kyle. And don't even get me started on 'can you survive the mace'!"

Letting out a little sigh, Lucy turned to Edith and put a hand on her shoulder, inviting her attention.

"What'd you fancy doing then, kiddo? Preferably something that doesn't involve danger or...y'know... _possible death_."

Turning to her two sisters, who were both giving her quite apprehensive expressions, the tomboy dropped her head in thought and considered for a few seconds. Choosing something from her bank of ideas that didn't involve danger was pretty difficult, but eventually, she fell upon one that seemed to fit the criteria pretty well.

"Can we play finger guns?"

"Finger guns?" Agnes inquired. "What's _finger guns_?"

"Well, we just use our fingers like guns and we go around pretending to shoot each other," She explained, extending her fingers out in the shape of a gun. "And if you get shot then you're out."

"Hmm...well, that does actually sound kinda fun..." Margo replied, shrugging with a small smile. "...and safe."

"Also, why don't we split up into teams?" Lucy suggested, noticing how much Agnes was struggling with turning her fingers into a gun. Considering that, there probably wasn't much of a chance she would survive on her own. "You and Margo join up, and I'll go with Agnes."

"Yeah! Okay!" Agnes screeched, leaping back up onto Lucy's lap. She turned to her two sisters with a threatening smile, something that was just more cute than actually threatening, and made a little evil laugh. "You guys are gonna go down!"

"Nuh-uh, we'll see about that." Margo responded, as she laughed and ran out of the room, Agnes leaping down to the floor and chasing after her a few moments later. Before Edith stood up and did the same, she quickly turned and wrapped her arms around Lucy's shoulders, smiling up at her.

"Thanks, Lucy."

After a moment, she let go and ran in pursuit of her sisters, giggling as she disappeared out of the room. Before she would most definitely do the same, Lucy simply sat there, staring forward with a smile.

She recalled that moment a few days ago at their restaurant date, when Gru told her that she would be an absolutely great mother. After mentioning it, he seemed to splutter a little and blush, as if he'd made some sort of mistake that she couldn't really identify. Either way, looking at how she handled that...

...maybe he wasn't far from the truth.

* * *

An eerie silence filled the upstairs hallway. Occasionally, a distant shuffle could be heard, immediately alerting the two figures who were carefully making their way down it. As she neared an open doorway, Lucy jolted forward and spun to investigate the room behind it, in search of one of the two little girls in hiding.

Not a soul in sight. Which begged the question, where was the shuffling coming from?

As Lucy peeled her eyes and carefully examined every inch of the room, Agnes tip-toed over and hid behind Lucy's back, giggling to herself happily as she held onto her shoulders. Turning to her with a smile, Lucy placed a finger on her lips and indicated for the small girl to be quiet, but after witnessing Agnes slap a hand on her mouth and make muffled laugh sounds, Lucy couldn't help but break out a giggle of her own.

But then, at that moment, the sound of an object falling to the hard floor struck the air, immediately attracting their attention. They weren't 100% sure, but they could've sworn it came from the study...

Giving each other a nod, mixed in with one final giggle, the two crept towards the aforementioned room at a slow and steady pace, still keeping a close eye and ear out for other sights or sounds. Eventually, the two made it over to the slightly open study door, and as she sucked in her breath to avoid making any more noise, Lucy peeked her head through. Sure enough, laying there on the floor, were a pair of black nunchucks.

Those could only belong to one person...

"Okay, here's the plan..." Lucy whispered quietly, as Agnes leaned in forward so she could hear her. "You go in and try to drag Edith out of her hiding spot, and once she has, I'll jump out and get her. Understand?"

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh." Agnes replied, nodding her head at speed as she trudged her way into the study. As she entered the room, the six-year-old narrowed her eyes and pointed her finger gun forward, searching for any trace of her older sister.

Unfortunately, when Edith finally did reveal herself, Agnes was looking in the wrong direction, and by that point, it was over.

"BANG!" She exclaimed, as she leapt from behind the desk and pretended to shoot her finger gun, which was aimed right in her little sister's direction. "Ha! Got you, Agnes!"

After realizing that she'd indeed been pretend shot, the six-year-old at first looked down at the floor and frowned in a sulk, but after a moment of remembering her plan with Lucy, looked back up at Edith with an evil smile. Confused, Edith raised her brow and returned an odd look.

"Why are you looking at me like th-"

"BANG!"

To her shock, the study door flung open at speed, and before she could decipher what was even happening, she was shot by an ecstatic Lucy.

"Got you!" The redhead exclaimed, smiling down at the nine-year-old, who crossed her arms and sighed in frustration.

"Ugh...you did." She groaned, flinging her arms to her sides unhappily. "Looks like I'm out. Why didn't I see that coming?"

Now, she may not have known the girls for an exceptionally long amount of time, but she'd had enough experience with them to know when they were faking or lying. And judging with Edith's tone of voice and pretend irritated expression, she knew something was up...

That was pretty much confirmed when a soft footstep sounded behind her, making her instantly spin and catch Margo just as she jumped from behind the doorframe.

"BANG!" They cried in unison, shooting each other at the exact same time. Their eyes widened slightly in surprise when they realized what happened, and before they could react, a loud cheer sounded from behind them.

"Yayyyyyy! Lucy, we won!" Agnes bellowed, as she jumped up and down on the spot.

"What are you talking about!?" Edith argued, holding out her arms in disagreement. "Margo shot her first! _We_ won!"

"Nuh-uh!" Agnes exclaimed in response. "Lucy shot her first!"

Seeing where this was going, Lucy and Margo shared a look and rolled their eyes, before the AVL agent intercepted things before it got out of hand.

"Okay, okay, let's just call it a draw. That way, _everybody_ wins." She said, chuckling. "Now how about we order a pizza? I dunno about you, but I'm _starving_."

Seeing food as a reasonable compromise, the two sisters turned to each other with a semi-serious frown and stuck out their tongues, before leaving the room without any commotion. As they disappeared down the hallway, Margo nodded and gave Lucy a smile, seeming quite impressed.

"Well done."

"What for?" Lucy replied, returning the smile.

"Well, dad used to struggle _a lot_ with those two when they started squabbling, and it took him months to realize that food was the best way to make them get along. How did you figure that out so quick?"

As she watched the two girls descend down the stairs, Lucy shrugged and broke out into a humorous smirk.

"Well, I guess great minds think alike."

* * *

Gru exited the lab elevator with a yawn and a stretch, both his muscles and eyes tired from the excessive work. It was certainly worth it though, since the grow ray was now fully complete, and any more future shrink mishaps can be rectified pretty easily.

Sure enough, nobody was present in the living room, evident by the fact that the elevator actually worked. For safety precautions, if somebody was inside the living room, it would always disable itself. Since there was obviously no need for it before, that was a feature he added not too long after the girls arrived permanently, for reasons that don't need explaining.

Out of curiosity, he looked up at the clock and checked the time, which currently displayed '9:45PM'. The girls were supposed to be in bed 15-minutes ago, but knowing them, they probably found a way to persuade Lucy into staying up later. He didn't necessarily have a problem with that. He just enjoyed seeing Lucy bond with them, even if it would result in tired faces the next day.

However, when he entered the hallway, he quickly realized just how quiet it was in the house. Oddly quiet. Even if the girls were asleep, Lucy's bubbly attitude and energetic way of life still made some sort of noise, even if she was just walking through the upstairs hallway.

He immediately grew concerned. He knew things were probably fine and that he was stressing over nothing, but whenever he was met with this deathly silence inside of his usually very loud house, something in the back of his head always provoked worry. He hated it, and because of that, grew to hate silence as well.

Before he made his way upstairs, he decided to check in the kitchen, just in case they decided to have a late-night snack and was hence too busy eating to talk or make noise. But when he was met with a pizza box on the table, of which still held one slice of pizza atop it, his heart-rate almost trebled.

The girls _never_ left pizza...

Now freaked out, Gru ran back out the kitchen and made his way for the upstairs. Did something happen while he was gone? Did one of his old villain enemies break in to hurt him? Did Vector come back to enact his revenge after returning from the moon? He didn't know the answers, and because of that, couldn't help but become totally petrified.

But...

He knew right from the beginning that he was indeed worrying over nothing, since when he practically threw open the girls' bedroom door in a panic, there laid his girlfriend and his daughters in the middle of the floor, cuddling each other atop a large pillow.

Upon laying his eyes on this adorable sight, not only did his heart-rate slowdown, but his heart itself pretty much melted in his chest. They all seemed so comfortable and happy laying there, that disturbing their sleep seemed like an impossible challenge. Thankfully, his panic-induced burst into the room didn't seem to wake the girls.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his redhead girlfriend, who slowly stirred a little and looked up at him in confusion after a few seconds.

"Woah, big guy..." She spoke softly and quietly, giving him a weak, fatigued smile. "What's with the grand entrance?"

"O-Oh...u-uh... _sorry_..." He replied, chuckling nervously. "I...I was just a bit worried, dat's all."

"Worried?" Lucy questioned, as she slowly sat up from the pillow, trying her hardest not to disturb the girls. "Worried about what?"

"Well...eet was really, _really_ quiet een here..." He replied, rubbing the back of his neck, something Lucy noticed he always did when he felt embarrassed. "And...and dere was a slice of peeza left downstairs..."

"A slice of pizza?" Lucy replied, her light chuckle now evolving into a quiet laugh. "What, were you worried that its life goal of _being eaten_ wasn't achieved?"

"Come on, yoo know de gurls _love_ peeza. I can't remember de last time peeza survived more dan ten meenutes een dis house." His head now fell a little, a clear expression of discontent on his face. "I thought...y'know...seence eet had been left dere, dat...sometheeng might've... _happened_ to yoo."

Lucy found it extremely adorable how worried he got over the girls, and even _her_ for that matter. She'd seen so many little things trigger deep worry within him, but I think a slice of pizza has certainly topped that cake. It was obvious he loved his little girls so much, to the point where he was as dependable on them as they were on him.

Growing up, she'd always longed for someone to depend on her like that.

Judging on how worried this amazing man looked right now, it was safe to say she'd found that someone.

Strutting over to him, Lucy wrapped her arms right around his neck, as he looked up at her with a faint smile.

"You know, you look so cute when you're worried." She spoke, as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "We should have rainstorms more often."

Chuckling, Gru returned the kiss and softly moved past her, his eyes fixed on his comotosed daughters.

"Right, after I get dese kids een dere beds..." He spoke, turning to face her with a huge smile spread firmly across his face. "How about we go downstairs and watch a movie?"

"Ooo, _yes_! We can watch 'The Love Will Never Die' again!"

"Ugh, not dat mushy tripe." Gru groaned, rolling his eyes in apparent disgust. "Can't we watch sometheeng weeth more...I dunno... _action_ een eet?"

"Nope. BANG!" Lucy extended her fingers out and pretend shot Gru in the leg, leaving him to stand there with a perplexed expression on his face. "And now you're out, so you don't get a choice."

Unsure of how to reply, Gru looked her up and down for a few seconds, as she stood there with an evil smirk, her arms still out extended and her fingers still forming the shape of a gun. After letting out a small chuckle, Gru shook his head and smiled widely, something Lucy couldn't help but reciprocate.

"Yoo're so weird, Lucy Wilde." He spoke, catching a glimpse of a minion walking down the hallway, one of his shrunken friends sitting on his shoulders.

"Yoo'll fit een pretty well here..."

* * *

 _So there we are. Just something a little cute that I fancied writing. Hope you liked it._

 _If you decide to review, it's appreciated :)_


End file.
